Fit for Life
Crew health is of paramount importance and the Managers, with support from The Ship Safety Trust have produced Fit for Life, a film focusing on the important issue of Crew Health.
Claims arising from crew illness represent a considerable and persistent financial exposure for the Club. Whilst fortuitous illness is unavoidable and Club cover is rightly there to respond to this, it is a matter for concern when claims arise in respect of medical conditions that ought to have been detected during pre-employment medical examinations (PEME). It is vitally important that seafarers are fit for seagoing employment. Whilst such risk can be mitigated through the Club’s PEME scheme, there is also much that can be done to further control this risk by raising awareness on the part of seafarers of the steps that they can take, through lifestyle choices, diet and exercise to improve their physical fitness. The situation can also further be improved if seafarers were to view the regular PEME as a means by which their state of health can be determined at the time of examination and monitored in successive years. In this way there can be early warning of the development of any medical condition that might threaten fitness for seagoing service. Through either medication or lifestyle choices to address and such conditions it may be possible to avert career-ending unfitness with obvious benefits for both the seafarer and their employer.
Further information can be obtained from the Loss Prevention department [email protected].